What do you do at Debate meetings?

The general format is that we get given a debate topic two weeks before it is to be debated.
The approach that we need to develop is tackling it together as members of the debating team. While only 3 people debate, we all develop the material collectively.

We begin by analyzing the topic – we look at the wording, make sure we understand it correctly.
With Junior Debates we know whether we are going to be for or against the topic, with Senior debates we have to prepare both sides and only know an hour beforehand which way we will have to argue.

We generally start then with a brainstorming session – all our ideas, associations, and thoughts that we think link with the topic.
We then look at various ways we could link these together to present a clear logical argument to support our stand and we also take note of what research we will need to do to develop evidence and facts to support our argument.

We choose our 3 debaters and the remainder of us link up with Speakers to help them to prepare their argument.

Each speaker has clearly defined roles and as a team we need to flow towards our goal… and we need to do work on developing our team line and skills in a debate. We also need to think of the opposing sides possible arguments and how we can “ attack “ them and weaken their case.

The week before the debate we present our argument and check timing, our backing up of our arguments and we make sure that we all know the structure of our debate and iron out any hitches and final cue cards made, styles rehearsed and what judges look for are remembered and corrected.

The debate itself is the proof of the pudding – as individuals we face our own fears and correct our individual weaknesses by participating. It is a wonderful chance to learn and the judges give advice and guidance. The floor is opened up after the formal debate, and we can chat about the debate, and strategies used…

And then we start again.